


Celebrating Something Special

by xo_thefirst



Series: City Street Lights [8]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Cigarettes, Family Feels, Holidays, M/M, Medical Jargon, Multi, Puppy Love, Slice of Life, Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:48:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21956899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xo_thefirst/pseuds/xo_thefirst
Summary: Christmas doesn't exactly feel like Christmas, until Baekhyun wakes up and Kyungsoo comes home.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Do Kyungsoo | D.O
Series: City Street Lights [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/636770
Comments: 8
Kudos: 71





	Celebrating Something Special

**Author's Note:**

> it's been a long time and i thought, why not come back for the holidays? this is kinda self-indulgent, but this chapter is focused on the christmas holiday :)

The first snow of the season comes in the middle of December. It happens when Baekhyun is working nights, typing away at a patient’s chart in the computer, and one of the nurses suddenly exclaims there are snowflakes falling from the sky. It took the weather long enough to catch up with the chill running its course through Seoul and Baekhyun takes a break to go join the rest of his staff in celebrating the start of the winter season.

The second snow of the season comes when Baekhyun is actually asleep, buried beneath the blankets and his head partially covered by the pillow he fell asleep laying on. He remembers stretching an arm out to see if Kyungsoo was next to him, maybe scrolling through his phone or reading through patients’ files still trying to catch up from the weeks prior, but it was empty and he could barely hear any other noises in the house.

The third snow of the season comes when Baekhyun is walking from the grocery store to his car. He’s in the middle of checking his text messages when a stray snowflake hits his screen and he looks up to see a couple flurries fall from the sky before stopping for a moment. They decide to join those on the ground again when he’s in the middle of driving his way home.

The fourth snow of the season comes when Baekhyun is standing outside the hospital, next to the ambulance bay. He’s partially hiding the behind the brick wall that separates the bay and the physicians’ parking lot when he releases the breath he’s been holding. A cloud of white escapes his lips and he taps his finger against the cigarette in his grip. The night sky is nice today, and he breathes out another cloud to join the ones in the sky.

It’s funny how he can remember the first, second, and third snows of the season. He can remember exactly what he was doing the moment the snowflakes started to fall from the sky, but he can’t remember the moment he started smoking again. He can’t even remember the first moment he started up this terrible habit. All he remembers was that he was in medical school when he plucked his first cigarette from the box, lighting it up with his attending’s lighter, and how easy it made all the stresses of medical school go away with each puff he took from it.

And then he remembers stopping. It was the beginning of their fourth year, about to graduate and start their residency, and they had all found out Sunyoung became pregnant with Soeul. He had promised both Jongdae and Sunyoung that he’d stop if he ever wanted to be around their future child, but it also helped that Kyungsoo had kept telling him he’d die one day before the rest of all of them because of lung cancer. They weren’t even dating then, but Baekhyun was already falling so far in love with him, he wanted to stop so they could even have a chance of getting together.

He stares at the night sky, wonders if he can stop himself this time. Kyungsoo already knows he’s gone back to this habit, knows it helps him relieve some of the stresses piling up on him since the weather started turning cold, but so do Jongdae and Sunyoung. Sunyoung’s seen him smoke before she leaves the evening shift. Jongdae’s smelled the cigarette scent bouncing off of him whenever they see each other outside their houses at the most random but accurate times. They just haven’t told him to stop yet, even though he knows they’re all silently thinking it.

He sucks in a breath, lets it coat his lungs, before he breathes it out again into the cold air. He watches as the winter chill takes the smoke away and the snowflakes douse the scent of it the slightest bit. He usually isn’t by himself whenever he takes a smoke break, but Joohyun has been busy trying to control the emergency room. He didn’t want to bother her. He didn’t want to really talk to anybody else either. He’s still getting used to the night shift crew.

“They told me you were out here. I didn’t expect you to go by yourself.”

Baekhyun laughs at that, tilting his head back enough to see Joohyun shivering a few times in her jacket before finally getting used to the cold weather. “I didn’t really want to bother anyone else,” he says, giving her a cheeky grin when she just gives him a look and holds out her hand. He instantly stuffs his free hand into his jacket pocket, searches for the lighter he stole from her bag, before handing it to her. “I also have presents,” he announces. She looks surprised and he guesses that’s a good thing.

He searches the area above his right front tire, underneath the hood, and feels for the three packs of cigarettes he had hidden there after he parked. It allows easier access for him to grab them rather than locking them in his car, and who would even go searching tires for a pack? He smiles as he turns and holds them out to her. “Early Merry Christmas.”

Joohyun is definitely surprised, and he can’t blame her. “What the hell am I supposed to do with three packs of cigarettes?” she asks, before she looks through them and grabs the middle one. She gives him a look. “And one is open.”

“I had to replenish the stock,” he answers with a laugh. He finishes the last of his current one before grabbing the open pack. “And I owe you.”

The way Joohyun rolls her eyes makes Baekhyun chuckle. “Junmyeon already isn’t happy with me smoking. You providing the goods will just make it worse.” But then she grabs one from the open pack and lights it up before handing her lighter back to him. “I’m assuming you used cash.”

Baekhyun hums, “I don’t know when’s the right time to tell Kyungsoo I’m very much on my way to becoming a chain smoker.”

“It’s best to quit while you’re ahead,” Joohyun mumbles. She doesn’t say anything else for a while. She simply stands between him and the wall, trying to block out as much of the wind possible using him, and Baekhyun tries to find the right spot so she isn’t shivering as much as when she first stepped out there. “Are you really becoming one of the regular night doctors?” she asks, blowing out a cloud of smoke into the sky. “If you are, the night crew is ecstatic.”

 _That_ makes Baekhyun laugh in surprise. “I guess so,” he murmurs back, glancing over to see her smiling already. He looks back to the sky, closes an eye when a snowflake nearly lands in it. “We’ve had meetings and emails about it for the past few weeks to see who would be the next regular night doctor and since everybody else has kids or some other prior arrangement, it’s stuck between me and Chanyeol.” He shrugs then, breathes out another cloud of smoke. “It’s fine with me. I already have a messed up sleeping schedule. This way, Kyungsoo will be at work and I’ll just sleep at home while he’s gone.”

“What about when he’s off and you’re working?”

Baekhyun isn’t so sure. “At least I’ll be awake if he ever needs me,” he mumbles. He doesn’t have his phone on him right now, but he knows somebody in the nurses’ station would get him if Kyungsoo did call while he’s at work. “I’ll be right there.”

There’s a soft hum, almost contemplative, and Baekhyun knows Joohyun is going to push for more. She always does, but sometimes even he needs a push when nobody is around to give it.

“How’s the ring treating you?” she asks. She’s holding out her hand towards him and Baekhyun can’t help but lift his left hand out from his jacket pocket, gently lay it on top of hers. She’s wearing a substitute ring so her given one doesn’t get ruined while at work, and he stares at it before staring at his own, glinting in the bay lights. “It still looks beautiful on you.”

And Baekhyun can’t believe it, but he feels his heart flop the longer he stares at it, sees the way Joohyun plays with it briefly. He sees the ring on the surface, shining silver staring back at him, but he sees Kyungsoo beneath it all. He sees Kyungsoo sleeping in their bed when he comes home from work in the mornings. He sees Kyungsoo’s wayward notes on the front door when he wakes up in the afternoon before he comes home from the office. He sees Kyungsoo hovering over him, smiling, when he wakes up from a nap on the couch before work.

He sees Kyungsoo’s love.

“Shit,” Baekhyun hisses, dropping the cigarette from his fingers. It’s almost burnt all the way to the end, the fire slowly eating its way through the stick, and he waves his hand in the air to cool the burning sensation. But for some reason, Joohyun laughs, drops her hand so Baekhyun does too.

“Kyungsoo is a powerful motive to stop smoking, hm?” Joohyun says, smiling, as she drops her own used cigarette and crushes it with her foot. “Too bad I’m too stubborn to stop and whatever Junmyeon does doesn’t really help.”

When Baekhyun finally looks over to her, she looks smug. It makes him laugh. “You just want to make his life hard.”

“Hey,” Joohyun says, laughing, as she leads them back to the emergency room. “I don’t have to do much to make his life hard. Usually, anyways.”

Baekhyun can’t help but smile at her retreating back. He heard from Yerim that everybody who knew both Joohyun and Junmyeon knew they would get together without either of them even knowing anything would come after meeting each other the first time. He doesn’t exactly know how it happened, but he wished he knew both her and her husband before they got married. He laughs to himself, shaking his head, and then groans when he sees an ambulance heading their way down the street.

“Shit, don’t they know there’s another hospital in the area?”

Junmyeon is damn lucky to have her.

It’s the morning of Christmas Eve. Baekhyun is heavily considering smoking another cigarette or two and there should be absolutely no _fucking_ reason why there are patients still coming into the Emergency Room. He could honestly care less how many patients there are—they’re there for _emergencies_ after all—but when some wayward twenty-year-old makes his way into the _Emergency Room_ for a simple _cold_ , Baekhyun feels like wreaking havoc.

It’s one measly complaint after another—it’s something to pass the time—but when he sees it’s only three _forty-three_ , he decides it’s time for another trip outside to exercise his lungs. All he needs to do is glance at Joohyun before they’re making their way again.

This time, Baekhyun is on his way to plucking out his third cigarette when another ambulance drives into the bay. Its sirens are on and he raises an eyebrow at it in concern. “How long have we been out here?” he asks quietly, watching as the driver rushes around to join the other paramedic in the back once they’re securely parked.

“Not long enough,” Joohyun mutters. He glances over to catch her take one last drag of her cigarette before dropping it to the ground, and then they’re moving to see what’s coming in.

Thankfully, the paramedics aren’t doing chest compressions, but the patient looks like he’s struggling to breathe through the mask on his face. “Why didn’t you intubate her?” he asks, loudly.

“Tried,” one of the paramedics answers, “Tough.”

Baekhyun eyes the woman some more. She has an eye slit open, trying to see what’s going on around her, but if she’s having this much trouble breathing— He follows them into the ER, Joohyun immediately shouting out orders. “Cardiac 2,” he muses, glancing quickly to the monitor screen in the back of the station to see which room is empty.

“Cardiac 2!” Joohyun echoes.

It’s a flurry of movement, but it wakes all of them up. At least half of the nurses are in the room with him, in case the patient plummets, but then he understands why the paramedics couldn’t get a tube in her.

“Hold right here,” he tells whoever’s next to him, waiting until the nurse—is it the paramedic?—grabs a hold of the neck where he has it to stabilize the trachea, before he tries and digs into the mouth a little further. He squints, “Suction,” before he quickly sees a route and pushes the tube into the woman’s mouth. It takes a few seconds, but then it slides in easily and he moves away as he pulls out the metal guide and lets the respiratory therapist set the patient up to a respirator.

He looks to the monitor. Vitals are stable. Pulse oxygen is rising to one hundred percent. He glances back down to the patient before he grabs his own stethoscope to listen to her lungs. It sounds absolutely nasty.

“Run everything,” he orders, before he does a cursory sweep of her body with his gaze. “What’s the story?” he finally asks, searching the room for the first paramedic he sees. “Hey! Story!”

“Hey! Seventy-three year old woman coming from home with complaints of sudden shortness of breath, onset about an hour before she called us, which would’ve approximately been around,” the paramedic trails off, staring at his watch for a moment, “an hour and forty minutes ago.”

Baekhyun hums as he focuses on the sound of his voice, memorizing everything that’s spoken to him. He hasn’t seen this paramedic in a while; maybe, he was on vacation. “Any medicines she’s on?” he asks next, watching as the nurses finish setting up one more medicine to make sure the patient stays sedated. He hears the ruffles of cards and paper before the paramedic is spouting off medicines the patient’s currently taking.

It feels like it takes forever to make sure the patient remains stable, but, in reality, it only takes thirty minutes. When he walks out of the room, it’s to see two new patients have signed in and he sighs as he immediately goes to see what their complaints are.

It’s Christmas Eve, but he shouldn’t already be tired of everything by the time it hits four-thirty in the morning.

“Last smoke until the day after Christmas?” Joohyun asks. It pulls Baekhyun out of his thoughts, mindlessly scrolling through his computer at possible video games coming out in the next year, and he looks up to see her giving him an amused stare. “I promised Junmyeon I wouldn’t smoke later and Christmas Day.”

Baekhyun lets out a soft laugh, getting up and stretching his back. “I’m surprised you gave up New Years’ to be off for the shindig tonight.”

“I can say the same to you,” Joohyun laughs out.

It’s five-fifty and he hopes Sunyoung arrives to work on time.

It’s not all that surprising Kyungsoo’s car is missing when Baekhyun gets home. They’re both working the holidays, not feeling the obligation to stay home to celebrate with non-existent children, but it still makes him feel restless, antsy. He doesn’t even move a foot away from their foyer when he enters their house. He simply glances around, noticing how Kyungsoo had taken the time to clean their entire living and dining rooms more than usual to prepare for the party tonight. He wonders if Kyungsoo actually slept the night before when he walks into the kitchen and sees some utensils out of place.

The stove is warm and Baekhyun frowns as he opens it to see a dessert Kyungsoo had baked, simply sitting in there. He closes the door without removing it before glancing around the kitchen some more. He picks up the wayward utensils to drop into the sink to wash later before opening the fridge to see some other foods ready to warm for tonight.

With a deep sigh, Baekhyun walks away. He goes into their bedroom to shower and change into more comfortable clothes, before going into the hallway closet to grab all the decorations they’ve bought the past couple of weeks. They’re hosting the Christmas party this year and—with one cursory glance at the living room clock—his brother, wife, and two children should be arriving soon to help him decorate the place. _And Mongryong!_

The thought of seeing his little brother perks him up enough to start decorating the living room. He doesn’t even feel tired. He actually thinks he’s _past_ the point of fatigue and tiredness by the time he hears someone knocking on his door and the doorbell ringing insistently. He chuckles when he can hear his sister-in-law scold their children and he’s pretty sure his smile is bright when he opens the door and little arms tackle him around the legs.

“Uncle Baekhyun!” they scream in unison, causing Baekhyun to laugh. He easily bends down to pick them up with an arm each and laughs more when they plant sloppy kisses on his cheeks.

“Good morning, princess,” he tells his niece before looking to his nephew, “Good morning, handsome.”

“Good morning!”

Baekhyun grunts when his older brother pushes past him to make his way inside. “Rude!” he calls out, hearing his sister-in-law laugh before Mongryong barks.

There’s a whistle then. “You did this by yourself? It smells like something sweet too,” Baekbeom comments. Baekhyun leans back down to let his niece and nephew run further into the house, and he can close the door. “We also brought some last-minute groceries.”

“I’m going to start cooking,” his wife calls out, and _that_ catches Baekhyun’s attention. His stomach growls and he looks to the clock on the wall to see it’s nearly ten in the morning. Did he even gather all the presents to put under the tree? Did he get presents for everybody? Did he wrap them all already?

He’s too lost in his thoughts, eventually wondering where Kyungsoo is and when is he coming home, that he doesn’t realize his older brother has been standing in front of him this entire time. Baekbeom is frowning at him, with hands on his hips, and Baekhyun registers belatedly they do somewhat look similar, if his brother poses like that. The hands move to cross his arms across his chest and Baekhyun blinks, confused.

“You haven’t eaten breakfast,” his brother comments, staring him down. “You haven’t even slept.”

Baekhyun can’t lie to his older brother, especially when it comes to his health. He’s tried before. Doctors have made the worst patients. “No,” he admits, reaching up to place a hand on his stomach when he actually hears it growl again. He doesn’t say anything else and he feels bad when his brother simply sighs, facial features smoothing out as his arms drop to his sides.

“Since when?”

“I ate McDonald’s last night,” Baekhyun quietly murmurs, looking away and into the living room where the children are playing around with Mongryong. “I haven’t slept since maybe four or five in the afternoon yesterday.”

This time, his older brother glances at the watch on his wrist. He murmurs something to himself, but Baekhyun can guess his brother is counting down how long it’ll be until Baekhyun has gone a full day without sleeping.

“I’m fine,” Baekhyun interrupts, moving past his brother. “I’ve gone without sleep for longer, you know.”

“Mom and dad won’t appreciate you knocking out in the middle of the party later,” Baekbeom calls out. It’s enough to make Baekhyun wince. “Go eat a snack or something and nap. I can finish up the preparations out here.” Though, it’s not enough for Baekhyun to actually do what his brother says. It’s just enough for his older brother to get his kids to do what he says. “Siwoo, Seoyul. Let’s go find breakfast for Uncle Baekhyun and make him go to sleep before the party.”

Mongryong barks and Baekhyun’s heart melts when he hears his niece and nephew yell, “yeah!” before leaving the living room. He can hear his brother and wife talking and Baekhyun can’t help but sigh at all their antics. He falls onto the couch before slipping off to sit on the floor. He smiles when Mongryong comes up to stare at him before walking away a couple of feet and plopping to the ground. “Mongryong,” he whines. All the puppy does is ignore him. “Don’t ignore me. I need cuddles!”

Mongryong simply glances at him.

It’s all Baekhyun needs to not throw a tantrum. He’s not even a child. He has his own fiancé and he’s been mentally thinking about having children—nowhere close to actually having them though. He needs to not let his sleep-deprived mind take over his otherwise natural personality.

Something like the scent of eggs fill the air. It smells delicious, something with meat going along with it, and Baekhyun inhales deeply before he simply leans his head back onto the edge of the couch to stare up at the ceiling. Kyungsoo’s brother and the rest of his family should be coming over soon too, after lunch if he remembers correctly. The rest of their friends and their families should be arriving tonight, though, while others’ families celebrate tomorrow.

He glances around the living room as best as he can from his position. This is the first time they’re hosting the holiday party. Neither of them are off, per se, but it was mutually decided by everyone else because their house is closer to anyone else and they didn’t want to go out to one of their hometowns. Plus, Baekbeom told him Siwoo and Seoyul really liked their house and wanted to come visit more whenever they could allow it. He is so weak to his niece and nephew.

“Uncle Prince!” he suddenly hears, tilting his head to the side to see Seoyul carefully bringing over a bowl of cereal in her hands. “Mommy is making you breakfast, but daddy says for me to give this to you too.”

Baekhyun waits to hear if his brother is going to make any more comments or if Siwoo is coming too, but he hears nothing else. He simply smiles at his niece, nodding, as he sits up and turns on the television to some Christmas cartoons showing. She places the bowl on the coffee table. “Will you help me eat some?” he asks, smiling when he watches her shake her head.

“I already ate,” she answers. His heart melts when she wiggles into his personal space to sit on his lap, Mongryong whining as he makes his way over to them too.

“Oh, _now_ you want to cuddle with me,” he mutters at Mongryong. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think the dog rolled his eyes at him. “Are you sure?” he asks Seoyul again, anyways, feels more than hears her say, “yes.”

“Daddy says it’s better to be full before you sleep,” she murmurs, becoming entranced with the show. “Sometimes. Don’t eat too much, or you get a tummyache.”

Baekhyun loves his niece.

It isn’t a wonder that Baekhyun falls asleep right there after eating a bowl of cereal with his niece and puppy giving him all the warmth he needs to be comfortable. He doesn’t even realize he dozes off until he blinks his eyes open to his nephew poking him in the cheek.

“Mommy will be upset if you don’t eat a good breakfast,” Siwoo says, giving him a bright grin after. “Daddy says you can nap in bed later.”

It takes a moment, but then Baekhyun groans. His neck is stiff when he looks at his surroundings and sees Mongryong has taken the place of his niece on his lap. He also notices more presents under the Christmas tree than he remembers. “I didn’t help bring in the presents,” he comments, voice slurring a bit. He winces when he feels a hand land on his head.

“Yeah, I was going to yell at you to help me, but then,” his brother suddenly says, trailing off. “Anyways, come on. Go eat.”

Baekhyun feels too groggy, too sluggish, but he still looks for the clock on the wall. “Kyungsoo isn’t home yet?” He feels mildly sorry for Mongryong when he gets up without so much as warning him he was going to stand. “Sorry.” When he looks to his brother, it’s to see him shake his head.

“Hasn’t come home yet.”

Baekhyun doesn’t even bother to hide the frown on his face when he realizes Kyungsoo hasn’t been home for, at least, four hours, on Christmas Eve morning. He winces when his brother ruffles his hair and pulls him in with an arm slung around his shoulders.

“Come on. Before you know it, he’ll be home.”

Baekhyun only grunts when he’s dragged into his own kitchen.

It’s unfair, he knows, but he can’t help being restless. It comes from years of having an unstable sleeping schedule. It comes from years of anxiety building up when he least expects it and not knowing how to deal with it in a healthy manner. He’s gone past taking pills to help him sleep. He’s gone past trying various teas in combination with pills to help him sleep. He’s gone past exercising until he’s built up a bucket a sweat to tire him out enough to help him sleep. But if his mind doesn’t want to stop racing, he can’t find a way to try and resist it. He simply keeps going and going until his mind goes numb and he drops onto the nearest surface to get a couple hours of uninterrupted sleep.

This bad habit hasn’t appeared in a while though. He’s been getting enough rest and sleep than what is considered his normal, but it’s Christmas Eve and he’s supposed to work tomorrow night and he hopes he’s gotten everyone presents and that everything’s wrapped and he hopes to the high heavens he bought Kyungsoo something because he honestly can’t remember at this point in time if he bought something for him or not—but he’s sure he can come up with something if he _did_ manage to forget buying him a present and—

“Baekhyun,” his sister-in-law suddenly calls out. He looks over from where he’s been fussing over the dining table decorations. It’ll need to be moved later when everybody brings over food to contribute to the feast, but it’ll look more like Christmas with everything in place until then. “You’re restless.”

Her words pull him out of his thoughts again and, belatedly, he thinks about smoking a cigarette. It might be able to calm his nerves enough to try and relax to sleep again, but he can’t do it with his brother and his family moving in and out of his house. He can’t possibly be thinking of smoking around his niece and nephew.

Baekhyun bites the inside of his cheek. Maybe, he’s developing a new—old—problem.

His sister-in-law gives him a fond stare, before she sighs. She walks over to him until she’s close enough to mindlessly fiddle with his hair and clothes. “Nicotine has proven to help reduce stress and anxiety,” she murmurs, completely catching him off-guard. “It help stabilizes your mood too, release dopamine and all that.” She gives him a secretive smile. It’s enough to make Baekhyun’s heart stutter. Then, she laughs, quietly, prettily. Baekhyun releases the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. “Baekbeom grabbed something from your trunk,” she whispers, and he knows it’s to make sure the kids don’t accidentally stumble upon their conversation. “He found a pair of scrubs in there. He said it smelled like cigarette smoke.” Her gaze turns into one of concern again. “I’m assuming Kyungsoo knows you picked up smoking again.” It’s not a question, but Baekhyun can’t lie to the one woman he loves the most after his mother and niece.

“He knows,” he whispers back, slowly feeling the tension in his neck and shoulders release. “I—,” he mumbles, fishes for words, “I—”

“You don’t have to explain anything,” she interrupts. She stops fussing with his clothes to take a step back. “It worries Baekbeom, you know? But everyone has their bad habits.”

Baekhyun can’t help staring at her. He wants to explain, to do something _more_ , but he can’t. He feels like a child and an adult all at once and it’s too conflicting, too confusing. He isn’t sure what he needs to do, what he _should_ do.

“Hey—” Baekbeom greets, entering the area holding what looks like a bunch of streamers. When did they have those? Baekbeom glances from his wife to him, and Baekhyun can’t do more than open his mouth and close it uselessly. “I was going to ask where I should put these, but I’m assuming it doesn’t really matter right now.” He sighs then, walks over to place the decorations on the table. “Look, _we_ don’t have a problem with you smoking. It helps. It’s hard to quit sometimes. I’m surprised you were even able to kick the habit in the first place, but if you picked it back up again, it’s fine. No harm done, except to your lungs.” He levels him with a look. “Just don’t do it in front of the kids, or around them, for that matter.”

It’s hard for Baekhyun not to laugh at that. It isn’t his typical bright one and it’s enough for his sister-in-law to start fussing with him again. “I never do it around children,” he murmurs, trying hard to not even frown at him. “You know that.”

His brother concedes with a nod, sighing, as he picks up the streamers again, “Then, I’m just going to hang this everywhere. You get no say.”

“That’s fair,” Baekhyun mumbles, wincing when his sister-in-law pinches his ear.

“No mumbling.”

“Yes,” Baekhyun sings, giving her a cheeky smile. It’s enough for her to roll her eyes at him and then she’s moving on to do something else. He almost forgets why he’s standing right where he is, watching his sister-in-law do her thing, and then he remembers when he feels his brother slap him hard on the back, something rectangular pushing against his scapula harder than the rest of his palm. “What?”

“Kyungsoo mentioned your old habit,” Baekbeom murmurs, “when I called asking about what was needed for today. I didn’t think any of it until he mentioned it two more times.” When Baekhyun looks over his shoulder, his brother nods in the direction of his wife. “I didn’t tell her exactly because we weren’t sure, but you know how amazing she is.” Baekhyun does know. He gapes when his brother removes his hand and reaches around him to show him the carton of cigarettes he used to buy years ago, except this one is brand new, sealed. “I bought it yesterday, in case you might’ve needed it. I told her when I found those scrubs in your trunk. I guess she just knows how to talk better than me. Quicker, too.”

“Baekbeom,” his wife suddenly calls from the kitchen, “Kyungsoo left some stuff in here that’s not prepared all the way. Should I continue it? I recognize most of the dishes already.”

Baekhyun catches enough of Baekbeom’s curious glance out of the corners of his eyes. “If Kyungsoo doesn’t come back by one,” he calls back, and Baekhyun doesn’t know if he feels weighed down by the cigarettes in his hand or relieved that his family isn’t judging him for being a physician who smokes and kills his own lungs. “Oh,” Baekbeom suddenly says, causing Baekhyun to look over at him. “I forgot the lighter. We can light a candle or something and leave it outside, though.”

At that, Baekhyun laughs, definitely feeling a bit more relieved. “I’ll text Joohyun to bring hers.”

Baekbeom whistles. “She’s the second most attractive woman on the planet.”

Baekhyun can’t help but laugh when he hears his sister-in-law agree in pretty much the same way.

Baekhyun is in the backyard, smoking a cigarette, when he hears the back door open and close behind him. He doesn’t turn to see who it is, but he can only guess it’s his older brother or his wife. The kids wouldn’t come out here.

“Baekbeom says you haven’t slept yet” comes a deeper voice, one that makes Baekhyun jump and almost drop his cigarette. “It’s also almost two in the afternoon.”

It’s instinctive, the way Baekhyun drags in another breath, feels the way it unravels his sudden nerves. And, for some reason, he’s scared to speak. He doesn’t turn, breathes out the smoke, breathes in fresh air. He sighs when he feels Kyungsoo’s hand glide along his lower back, wrapping loosely around him and using his other hand to pluck the cigarette from his right hand. “Kyungsoo—” He freezes when he sees how tired Kyungsoo looks, how he stares at the cigarette briefly, considering it, before breathing it in too.

In all honesty, Kyungsoo had tolerated cigarettes better than he did back in the day.

“I should be cleared all day unless there’s an absolute emergency,” he says, looking away and breathing out the smoke. The corner of his lips tips up and Baekhyun feels the sudden urge to kiss him. So, he does. Well, he kisses the corner of his upturned lips, but it’s enough for Kyungsoo to release a startled laugh. “Come on,” he coaxes, giving him back the cigarette. “I’ll tuck you into bed and help with the rest of the preparations.”

It’s a tease, but it’s so much more tempting than staying outside in the cold air and smoking. Without so much as a glance, Baekhyun drops the unfinished cigarette before crushing it beneath his shoe. It’s enough to make Kyungsoo wrinkle his nose.

“We have to buy an ashtray after the holidays.”

Baekhyun laughs, feeling the pressure of Kyungsoo’s own ring in his hand, as his fiancé leads him back into the house.

It’s hard not to track Kyungsoo in their bedroom. Baekhyun’s already freshly changed, barely a hint of the cigarette smoke on him, and in bed. He has the covers tucked up under his chin, but Kyungsoo keeps walking in their bedroom, rifling through drawers and checking his cell phone. It would be unnerving, but Kyungsoo is simply making him more confused than concerned. It looks like Kyungsoo is restless too, and he doesn’t know what to make of it.

He opens his mouth to call his name, but then he shuts it closed when he hears Kyungsoo mumble some type of pleased sound. Maybe, it was a hum. Though, he keeps watching as Kyungsoo turns, gaze falling down to the present in his hands.

“I forgot where I had put it,” Kyungsoo murmurs. The only sign of embarrassment is the redness on the tips of his ears. “I bought it a while back.”

“I honestly can’t remember if I bought you a present or not,” Baekhyun mumbles, feeling his own cheeks heat up at the admission. “My days and nights have been blurred.” It calms him to see Kyungsoo smile. It makes his lips twitch up when Kyungsoo comes to sit beside him on the bed. “It’s already almost three,” he says, eyeing Kyungsoo’s face. He still looks tired but also more alive. He doesn’t voice how it’s that much closer to everyone else arriving to their house, how he needs to be awake to greet them all. He doesn’t voice a lot of his concerns, because he hopes Kyungsoo knows him well enough by now to know it won’t stop. He closes his eyes when Kyungsoo leans down to kiss his forehead.

When Kyungsoo pulls back, he’s smiling the tiniest bit. “Your hair still smells a bit like the cigarette smoke.” The corner of his lips tugs a bit more before he’s fully smiling at him. “Aren’t you going to ask if I’m going to go back to smoking too and if we’re going to be the _smoking hot husbands_?”

 _That_ causes Baekhyun to laugh, dislodging the neatly tucked in comforter around him. It’s easy to come back to himself if Kyungsoo is right there with him. “I won’t judge,” he sings, reaching out to pull Kyungsoo against him, even though he’s still on top of the comforter while he’s not. “I’m trying to cut back,” he murmurs after, feeling Kyungsoo settle against him. “I bought three packs yesterday, or the other day,” he blurts out. He winces when he feels Kyungsoo still beside him. “I had to repay Joohyun for all the times I stole her cigarettes the past few weeks, and as a gift.”

The stiffness in Kyungsoo’s shoulders ease slowly. It’s a clear indication that, despite being okay with the idea of him returning to the bad habit, it’s still one Kyungsoo disapproves of. Baekhyun doesn’t hold him tighter or loosen his hold. He simply stays, lets Kyungsoo figure out if he wants to say something else or not.

Minutes pass by, maybe hours, and Baekhyun thinks he dozes off while waiting for Kyungsoo. His fiancé doesn’t so much as make a sound, but he does feel him move when his arm involuntarily relaxes even more. Drowsily, Baekhyun thinks Kyungsoo is moving to leave to help their families with the last-minute preparations, but the weight against him doesn’t change.

He wakes up to Siwoo climbing over and between them.

“Uncle Baekhyun! Uncle Kyungsoo!” his nephew crows, wiggling all around until Baekhyun grunts and Kyungsoo laughs, separating themselves from each other. “It’s almost six o’clock and daddy says it’s time to get up.”

“Tell your daddy to go—”

“Baekhyun!”

Baekhyun groans as Siwoo finally stills and he opens an eye wide enough to see his nephew staring at him with a look of concentrated confusion on his young face. He loves his family—he truly does—, but he can’t help but hold a staring contest with his brother’s spawn. His sleep was cut short and this time, it actually _feels_ like it was cut short. “Siwoo,” he says quietly, warningly, feels amusement bubble up within him when he hears his nephew’s mimicked reply.

“Uncle Baekhyun.”

Beside them, Kyungsoo is snickering. His weight leaves the bed and his presence leaves the room.

Baekhyun pouts, not taking his eyes off of his nephew as he sinks back completely into the bed, “Siwoo.”

“Uncle Baekhyun,” Siwoo repeats, wiggling forward until he’s clearly in his personal space, pushing his nose into Baekhyun’s own. “Are you awake?”

It’s such a silly question and his nephew’s breath smells like chocolate. Baekhyun laughs, springing up and wrapping his little nephew in his comforter as he squeals in joy. “I am now,” he says, keeping Siwoo close to him in a hug. “Does the house look like Christmas now?” he asks the little lump against him. His smile widens when he sees his nephew wiggle some more before he’s tilting his face up to look at him.

“A lot!”

“Are there a lot of presents?”

“Yeah!”

Baekhyun smiles as he finally unwraps his nephew from his comforter. He watches as Siwoo clambers out of bed first before he chuckles and follows after him. “I’m going to go change then join everyone else, okay?” he tells him, watches as Siwoo huffs before turning around and nodding.

“Better not go back to bed,” Siwoo orders, determined little frown on his face.

And Baekhyun can’t say no to that.

There are too many people for the way he’s feeling at this exact moment. He hasn’t prepared himself mentally for the assault of everyone suddenly greeting him or coming up to him to give him hugs. He feels a little childish when he finally spots his mother and she comes to give him a hug herself. He clings onto her when she starts to move away. It makes her laugh.

“Oh, my Baekhyunee,” she coos. It’s been a long time since he’s heard her greet him so close. “Stop dawdling and greet the rest of your guests.”

Baekhyun feels like a child when he pouts at her laughing face, completely forgetting the fact he’s an emergency room physician and saves peoples’ lives for a living.

A slow glance around the room tells him that almost everybody is here. Jongdae, Sunyoung, and their children are here, same with Jongin, his wife, and their children. Chanyeol and Sehun are mingling with Joohyun and Junmyeon—and belatedly, Baekhyun thinks Joohyun looks stunning and Junmyeon looks incredibly happy to be near her. Kyungsoo’s family is moving around. _Children_ are running around, and he catches sight of Minseok with, who he assumes, is Yifan—he’s _giant_ —and— “Amber?” he asks, caught off-guard as said woman turns around with half a piece of chicken sticking out of her mouth. “Is it even time to eat yet?”

“Hey,” she manages around the mouthful of food, grabbing a napkin to wipe the tips of her fingers and her lips. “Some of us had to work today.”

Unconsciously, he instantly glances at the rest of her outfit, noticing she’s wearing scrubs. “I didn’t know you were working today,” he comments, walking closer to her to scour the table for ready finger food.

“I didn’t know if I’d even make it,” she mentions, joining him in his search.

It’s been a while since he’s actually seen her. He can’t even remember the last time they’ve spoken to each other besides— “I haven’t seen you in _years_ ,” Baekhyun suddenly exclaims, around a mouthful of fruit. It’s enough to cause both him and Amber to choke on what they’re eating.

There are tears in the corners of Amber’s eyes. “Too many to count,” she agrees, “I’m too lazy to think of the last time I saw your cheeky face.”

“I don’t know if I should be offended,” he coughs out, almost choking a second time when a hand pounds on his back. Hard. He glances over to see Baekbeom rearing his hand back to help him again. “Brother—”

“Medical professionals are the worst patients,” Baekbeom mutters. All it does is make Baekhyun grimace as his brother pounds on his back again and makes Amber laugh, because it’s absolutely true. “If you get pneumonia from inhaling fruit into the wrong pipe, I’m going to make sure that death scene will be engraved onto your tomb.”

“The rudest,” Baekhyun manages to breathe through another wheeze. He yelps when another hand, noticeably smaller, pounds on his back and he looks over to glare at Amber. “Can you not?”

“Oh, look!” Amber calls out, eyes lighting up as she points to somewhere behind Baekhyun. “Hey, Kyungsoo!”

When Baekhyun turns around to complain to his fiancé about the abuse he’s receiving literally _the day before Christmas_ , he realizes that he’s facing the majority of a wall and Amber _tricked_ him. What are they? Five years old or something? Before he can even _look_ for his friend, he calls out, “Amber!” as his older brother laughs at his misfortune.

“Still cute,” Baekbeom says and no matter their ages, Baekhyun still feels like a little child when his brother reaches up to ruffle his hair. He pouts in response.

“What’s still cute?”

At that, Baekbeom shrugs, hand dropping to Baekhyun’s shoulder closest to him. “You’re still so infatuated with Kyungsoo,” he murmurs. It’s enough for heat to crawl up Baekhyun’s neck to wrap around and settle in his cheeks. “At this point, why don’t we just have a ceremony and reception? The whole ordeal?” He glances at him out of the corners of his eyes, a special gleam settling in his gaze. “It won’t technically be official, but at least you could say you had a wedding to make it seem as such.”

“Is this something we really need to talk about now, of all times?” Baekhyun mumbles back, wincing when Baekbeom reaches up to lightly pinch his ear. “You mumbled!”

“I’m special,” Baekbeom says with a proud smile. The expression softens into something fond. “Just let us know the time and place, huh?”

Baekhyun doesn’t even have a coherent response to that. He simply watches as his brother gives him a considering look before Baekbeom is patting his shoulder again and walking off.

By this time, more people have arrived and he catches glimpses of Wonshik, Jihyun, Yerim, and Hyunsik. He even sees Dahye continually moving through everybody and taking pictures of everything she can. He doesn’t even realize how many people were invited until it’s closer to eight at night and everybody is circling around the dining table and kitchen to get as much food as is possible on their plates. He’s surprised they even have some leftover by the time it’s closer to nine-thirty. He doesn’t even _see_ Kyungsoo until it’s closer to ten.

Baekhyun breathes in a sigh of relief when he finds Kyungsoo in the kitchen, grabbing a beer from the fridge. He walks over to him without a second thought, not even bothering to warn Kyungsoo about his presence, until Kyungsoo turns around and gasps when Baekhyun all but flops over on him in the form of a loose hug. “Surviving on a couple hours of naps is surprisingly draining me more than usual,” he mutters over Kyungsoo’s shoulder. His chin digs painfully into the flesh but he can’t be bothered to move or lighten his weight any.

“Your age is bound to catch up to you sometime” is Kyungsoo’s breathless response, grunting, as he tries to move him around into a more comfortable position. “Once the party’s over later, we should just head to bed. Clean up tomorrow.”

“But then that means we have to clean up _tomorrow_ ,” Baekhyun whines. Instinctively, he tilts his face to nuzzle into Kyungsoo’s neck, smiling when he feels Kyungsoo stiffen. “Kyungsoo,” he whines again. He smiles wider when he feels Kyungsoo let out a shaky breath before reaching up to card fingers through his hair.

“You’re insufferable.”

“But you love me.” Kyungsoo laughs then and it feels like Christmas when Baekhyun finally pulls away to notice Kyungsoo has one of those cheesy holiday sweaters on. He stares at it, bewildered. “When did you even get that?”

Kyungsoo shrugs, takes a long drink from his beer. “Last week, I think. I went out with Hyunah when you were sleeping.” He tries to peer through the window of their bar. “She has a matching one.”

Baekhyun’s jaw drops, trying to follow Kyungsoo’s line of sight to see that, yes, indeed, Hyunah is wearing a sweater similar in style to Kyungsoo’s. “You didn’t get me one?” he asks, turning around to see Kyungsoo trying to stifle a laugh. “We could’ve all matched!”

“ _That’s_ what you’re concerned about?” Kyungsoo says, smile still lighting up his lips. “Wonshik was more concerned I was having an affair with his wife.”

And _that’s_ enough reason for Baekhyun to roll his eyes, “Please, you’d perish if you had to have some type of intimate relation with a human of the female variety.” He crosses his arms without even thinking and stares at Kyungsoo a bit longer before looking back out the window to spot Hyunah and Joohyun mingling together now. “Plus,” he murmurs, trailing off. He knows Kyungsoo wouldn’t cheat on him, especially with his best friend’s wife.

Kyungsoo hums. “I would take offense to that,” he says. His touch is chilled from the cold bottle, soothing on the back of his neck. “But I love you.”

Baekhyun smiles, watches as Seoyul is carrying around a heavy Mongryong. The rest of the kids have focused their attention in the center of the room where they’re playing some game and it feels like this moment could last forever. Their parents are mingling with their colleagues and Baekhyun catches a glimpse of Dahye focusing her camera on him and Kyungsoo before he simply returns his attention to elsewhere in the room. He hopes he helps and lets her get their candid moment. Sometimes, Baekhyun knows he doesn’t have to say the sentiment back.

“We could’ve all matched,” he simply says again, glancing over Hyunah and Joohyun again. He takes in a deep breath when he hears Kyungsoo’s laugh. “I’m surprised none of the kids have asked when we’re going to open presents.”

This time, Kyungsoo hums again but doesn’t say anything else. They simply stand there and watch, taking the time to appreciate what little of the holiday they have left, and hope the rest of the year goes by smoothly.

“Yifan is precious,” Kyungsoo suddenly states. It’s enough for Baekhyun to almost choke on thin air, because it sounds like a complete fact. “All gummy smiles and longer hair. He’s precious,” Kyungsoo reiterates. If Baekhyun didn’t know any better, it sounds like Kyungsoo is _infatuated_ with him. “He’s handsome in person.”

Baekhyun automatically scans the room, looking for a man supposedly six-foot-whatever, a little taller than Chanyeol and Sehun. He doesn’t see him at first glance until he realizes the long hair in a ponytail sitting next to a smaller Minseok on their couch.

“Tall, too.”

Baekhyun doesn’t think Yifan looks any tall right now. “So are Chanyeol and Sehun,” he murmurs in response, eyeing the duo sitting there talking with them.

“But that’s Chanyeol and Sehun,” Kyungsoo says, waving a dismissive hand in the air. The alcohol is slowing down his system the slightest bit. “If I wasn’t so focused on school, I might’ve tried to date Chanyeol, but he didn’t even know he was bisexual at the time.”

That makes Baekhyun frown, shifting his gaze over to his coworker who’s laughing at something someone said. He _is_ handsome, but not really his type. “Did Chanyeol ever find out he was also attracted to men before Sehun?” He doesn’t see it, but he hears Kyungsoo’s hum, which was probably accompanied by a shrug.

“I,” Kyungsoo stresses, before quipping, “have no idea.”

Sehun catches Baekhyun’s gaze and gives him a confused raise of his eyebrows. Baekhyun simply shakes his head and gives him a reassuring smile before turning to face Kyungsoo, who’s been staring at _him_ this entire time instead.

“But you’re _broad_ ,” Kyungsoo whispers, gaze dipping down to Baekhyun’s shoulders, then waist, before trailing it back up to his face. He finishes off his beer before turning back towards the kitchen proper. “So _nice_ ,” he calls out, grabbing a glass to fill wine in this time. When Kyungsoo makes it back over to him, Baekhyun feels equally parts amused and aroused. The flush is high on his fiancé’s cheeks. “Broad backs are so nice. Sehunnie can’t _compare_ ,” he wrinkles his nose, “and he’s a baby.”

“Am I interrupting something?” a new voice calls out, sounding as amused as Baekhyun feels. Only working and talking with her as long as he has lets Baekhyun know it’s Joohyun entering the kitchen in her Christmas dress, all pretty in red. “I thought Kyungsoo’s alcohol intake tolerance is great,” she comments, laughing as she refills her own glass with wine.

“It’s fucking _perfect_ ,” Kyungsoo answers. It’s surprising he’s not slurring his words yet.

Though, it’s enough for Baekhyun to rush over and clamp a hand over Kyungsoo’s mouth. He grimaces when Kyungsoo licks his palm afterwards.

When Baekhyun realizes Kyungsoo isn’t going to say anything else, he removes his hand to wipe it on his pants. He glances over to see Joohyun smiling at them, lips tilting more to one side in almost a smirk. “Have I even talked to you at all tonight?” he asks, watches as she swirls the wine in her glass.

“Nope,” she quips, “but we always talk at work, so we can afford a respite.”

Baekhyun chuckles then, glancing out into the living room to see Junmyeon talking with Wonshik. “He absolutely _glows_ next to you,” he mentions, hearing her snort.

“He’s such a sap.”

But when Baekhyun looks over to her, there’s a fond smile on her face, her wedding and engagement rings snug on her finger. “Well,” he muses, catching her raise a delicate eyebrow at him, “he must be doing _something_ right to be able to stay by your side.” He snickers when the eyebrow falls into its neutral position before she scoffs and waves her free hand.

“It’s too much paperwork to do anything but stay married to each other.”

“There’s so much paperwork _everywhere_ ,” Kyungsoo groans and they both laugh as he runs a hand down his face. “It’s so much work keeping everyone’s hearts healthy.”

“Yes,” Baekhyun concedes, leaning over to kiss Kyungsoo’s temple, “but you do it so well.”

“Damn right,” Kyungsoo murmurs, leaning into Baekhyun’s kiss, eventually simply listing into his side. Baekhyun’s arm moves to rest around Kyungsoo’s waist automatically.

It becomes easy after that. They stay planted against the bar counter with Joohyun across from them. She and Baekhyun do most of the talking but Baekhyun doesn’t mind. It’s not any different than while they’re at work. Siwoo comes wandering into the kitchen minutes later looking for ice cream and Baekhyun thinks twice of scolding his nephew for eating it so late at night but, well, it’s almost Christmas at this point.

Everyone comes filtering through the kitchen some time during the night and Baekhyun starts a conversation with anyone who looks like they want to talk. Jongdae eventually comes to settle next to him, making space on the counter to hop up and sit on it. Soon enough, they have a small circle of medical professionals who work exclusively in their hospital in the kitchen.

Jongdae is talking about a time he was walking through the emergency room to see a patient late at night when he stumbled upon Baekhyun standing up to an increasingly drunk patient. He and Baekhyun were practically the same height, but the drunkard was out of his mind and attempted to punch Baekhyun. Jongdae beams like a pleased cat when he says, “but Baekhyun blocked it and forced the man to sit down! It was insane! Baekhyun barely yells, but here he was yelling at this guy and, of course, nobody would go against Baekhyun’s words. Everyone in the damn hospital loves this guy.”

Baekhyun laughs as his best friend wraps an arm around his neck to bring him in close, “You’re exaggerating, Jongdae.”

“Baekhyun was cussing and everything. Nobody appreciates us nowadays!”

Baekhyun rolls his eyes as Joohyun pipes up next, “You should’ve seen the time Baekhyun physically held down a patient who kept screaming and kicking anyone who got near her. She kept calling him names and thought she was the queen of the world.” Everyone around them fell silent at the story, glancing between Baekhyun and Joohyun. She rolled her eyes at the dramatics. “I kept trying to give her medicine to calm her down, but Baekhyun got so ticked off he physically went to her and took the place of the police officer and held her in place on the bed while the officer held the back of her legs still.”

“The handcuffs helped,” Baekhyun murmurs, feeling Kyungsoo list more into his side. He glances at his fiancé, because he’s pretty sure Kyungsoo never got another glass of wine from earlier.

“Anyways, Baekhyun can get riled up enough to use force,” Joohyun says with a shrug, laughing, when Chanyeol shoves at her. “Hey, you don’t work enough nights yet to experience all the insane shit that happens there at that time.”

Baekhyun laughs at Chanyeol’s scrunched nose. “Hey, everything is thanks to Joohyun. She’s the one who takes control of the entire place. I just let her do whatever she wants and I sign off on everything.” He glances at his friend who hides a pleased smile behind the rim of her cup. “We’re gonna be the night crew soon, right, Chanyeol?” He glances back to Chanyeol who actually grimaces at the reminder.

“Slowly going back to working nights is one of the most miserable things on this planet,” Chanyeol relents, groans. “I haven’t done more than a few handful of nights since residency.”

“Nights are tough,” Jongdae agrees with a nod, earning a punch on the thigh from his wife. “Ow!”

“You don’t even _remotely_ work nights,” Sunyoung mutters, glancing around him to peek into the living room at their children.

Jongdae grumbles, loosening his grip around Baekhyun enough to drop his hand to plant on the counter behind them. “I’d prefer the office hours compared to the shift work you guys do. _That’s_ insane.”

Baekhyun shrugs as Chanyeol answers, “Rather not be on call.” He suddenly stills at the reminder, glancing over to see Kyungsoo staring at all of them with a lingering smile on his lips. _Kyungsoo_ is supposed to be on call this entire holiday season. He drew the short end of the stick. He doesn’t get a chance to voice out his thoughts though, Sunyoung asking him another question that has to do with the emergency room because they have the most interesting stories to date.

“Remember that girl who refused to believe she was pregnant even though she _clearly_ looked like she was about to pop and literally started having contractions right there?”

Baekhyun can’t even _begin_ to explain and complain, _absolutely hoping_ the upcoming generation with their kids will be smarter than the ones now.

The bar stools are warm. The air is warm. Their entire bodies are warm, but Baekhyun thinks it’s because everybody is happy right now. The children are sitting patiently by their parents, Seoyul is calling out names of all the presents she picks up to give to Siwoo to deliver, and Kyungsoo is listing backwards into the back of his seat and slumping down a bit. Baekhyun tries not to laugh.

“Don’t look so put out because I took your alcohol away.”

“How come every time there’s an event _you’re_ the only one who can drink?”

Baekhyun could respond that it’s because he’s never on-call and never has to be, that he might’ve chosen the right field within one large one, because _who the hell wants to be on-call ever_ in their lives, but he knows he shouldn’t. Last year, he had to work the holidays while Kyungsoo took off, so it’s only fair. _But still_ —

Kyungsoo is pouting and even as ancient as they are, he’s still incredibly adorable and Baekhyun actually does burst out laughing when Kyungsoo side-eyes him. “You look like a child,” he comments, eyeing the red plastic cup in his fiancé’s hand. “Are you still drinking that water?”

“How can I not?” Kyungsoo gripes, though he sighs right after. He straightens up in his seat and looks more refreshed than a few seconds ago, but there’s still a red flush high on his cheeks. He takes a sip of his water. “Thanks,” he murmurs behind the lip of his cup. He raises his hand when Seoyul calls out his name and Baekhyun can barely spare a glance at his nephew when he runs up to them to give Kyungsoo his present.

“Here you go, Uncle Kyungsoo!”

“Thank you,” Kyungsoo says, gently placing his hand on Siwoo’s head before he runs off again.

Baekhyun watches the entire exchange, sees Kyungsoo peer at his present’s tag to see who gave it to him, before placing it on the counter behind them. Something about Kyungsoo screams _warm_ and Baekhyun can’t help but laugh quietly to himself before taking a sip of his own water. He looks around the living room, sees the adults and parents talking to each other, the children bouncing up and down in excitement in their places, and wonders where their parents are.

He doesn’t see his or Kyungsoo’s parents and he doesn’t know if that’s a good or bad sign.

Baekhyun frowns. He’s too old to be worrying about his parents but with one more search around the room, he really can’t find them and he _swears_ if they’re in his and Kyungsoo’s room, or any other room for that matter, trying to clean up nonexistent messes _again_ —

“Baekhyun, you’re glaring at Seulgi,” Kyungsoo comments, drawls. “She’s glaring back at you.”

Kyungsoo’s voice snaps him out of his thoughts. He looks over at him before looking over to Seulgi and Baekhyun grimaces when he can see his friend pointing a finger at him from across the room. It looks like a threat and when he sees Sunmi laughing next to her, with an arm wrapped around her shoulders, Baekhyun knows Seulgi is trying to threaten him. He only breathes again when he sees Sunmi lean over to whisper something in Seulgi’s ear and his friend deflates against her girlfriend.

“That’s all of the presents!” Seoyul suddenly yells. It causes everyone to pause in what they’re doing before the children cheer and Baekhyun’s so surprised by it that _he’s_ surprised he can hear Kyungsoo’s soft laughter in the midst of all the noise. “Merry Christmas, everyone!”

It hasn’t hit midnight yet, but Baekhyun claps and cheers with everyone else anyways. He watches as Daeul grabs his heavily misshapen present for his dad and presents it to him, asking him to open his first. Jongdae laughs but does as told.

He watches as Taeoh clambers onto his father’s lap and Jongin smiles and laughs as his daughter opens one present first. He watches as Joohyun forces Junmyeon to open a present first and sees her surprise when he begins unwrapping his but pulls her in for a kiss instead. Baekhyun feels warm seeing Joohyun’s soft smile after.

He feels so warm and happy. He doesn’t even realize his parents have come back until he feels arms wrap around his side and his mother is pushing her face into his shoulder. “Baekhyunee!” she exclaims.

“Mom,” Baekhyun breathes. He tries not to fall off his chair and he’s thankful when he feels a hand push against his other side to keep him stable. “Have you been drinking?”

“Only a glass of wine, dear,” his mother answers, but when he finally gets a chance to look at her, her cheeks are considerably flushed harder than he’s seen before. “I think your father and I are going to bed earlier than everybody else.”

Baekhyun glances over his mother’s head at his father and raises a brow. His father just shrugs in response. “Okay. Baekbeom and his family is taking one of the guest rooms and Seungsoo and Kyungsoo’s parents are taking the other one.” He looks over his shoulder at Kyungsoo who’s helping him stay steady on his chair. “I figured Kyungsoo might get a call out tonight,” he watches as Kyungsoo shrugs, “so you can sleep in our room.” When he looks back over to his parents, they’re staring at him shocked and he doesn’t understand why. “What?”

“What happened to your fourth room?” his father asks, grunting when Siwoo runs into his legs and demands a hug.

“We converted it into a spare study,” Baekhyun answers, slowly, unsure of where the conversation is going. “Didn’t I tell you that when you said you were going to spend the night here for Christmas?”

“What about the bed that was in there?”

“We put it in storage.”

“Where were you going to sleep?”

“On the couch?”

“What about Kyungsoo?”

Baekhyun is confused. He lets go of his mother to stare at Kyungsoo and he doesn’t know. Neither of them know. “I was going to sleep on the couch,” Baekhyun says, shrugging when Kyungsoo does.

“If I don’t get a call out tonight, I’ll sleep on the couch and Baekhyun can have the floor.”

At that, Baekhyun frowns. He glances over at their largest couch and eyes it for a moment. “No. We can both fit. I don’t want to sleep on the floor on Christmas.” Plus, he _knows_ they both know they can fit on it.

“We don’t mean to impose,” his mother suddenly says and Baekhyun stares at her shocked.

“Mother, you gave birth to me. It’s Christmas. You are not imposing whatsoever.”

“I know it’s early, but,” Seungsoo suddenly says. His voice is loud enough to shock all of them into facing him and the smile on his face is wide and excited. It takes Baekhyun a second to realize his and Kyungsoo’s parents are standing behind him. “Merry Christmas, Kyungsoo!”

Seungsoo moves aside and there’s a bundled blanket in Kyungsoo’s mother’s arms and they’re both confused only for the sole fact they see the bundle _move_. Mongryong makes his way towards them and Baekhyun doesn’t understand when Mongryong just circles Kyungsoo’s parents before barking at them.

“Hold out your arms, Kyungsoo!”

They all watch as Kyungsoo does and their jaws drop when Kyungsoo’s father unwraps the top part of the blanket to reveal a small black poodle’s head. The puppy is sleeping but wiggling around and Baekhyun chances a glance to see Kyungsoo’s expression. He leans over just enough to see Kyungsoo’s surprise and this is probably the best present his fiancé could ever receive.  
“We already set up all the puppy stuff in your bedroom,” Kyungsoo’s mother explains and that’s probably why they disappeared earlier in the night. “He’s all prepared to move in!”

Kyungsoo doesn’t look so inebriated anymore and now the children are starting to gather around them. It’s such a weird feeling, such a weird _sight_ , Baekhyun almost doesn’t realize Kyungsoo’s eyes are watering up or his soft “thank you” for his present.

“I don’t even think I got you a Christmas present.”

The house is quiet. Everyone’s knocked out after a long Christmas Eve celebration, but Baekhyun can’t help but try to think if he got Kyungsoo a present at all this time. He really can’t remember and he doubts it can top Kyungsoo’s parents’ present. He sighs when he feels Kyungsoo move in closer to him on the couch. His face is burying itself in his chest and he lets Kyungsoo moves his legs how he wants to get comfortable.

“Your arm is going to be numb in the morning,” Kyungsoo mumbles.

Baekhyun hums in response. Kyungsoo is using it as a pillow and he has it propped up so he can cradle Kyungsoo’s head against him if he could. It probably will be numb. He already feels it tingling. “It’ll be fine,” he murmurs anyways. “What if I didn’t get you a present?” He can’t stop thinking about it.

“You love me. It’s enough.”

Baekhyun stills. He tries to stare at his fiancé, but he can’t with how they’re laying down. He stares at the ceiling instead before looking to the lit up Christmas tree. “It’s enough?” he echoes back, feeling Kyungsoo sigh softly against him. He doesn’t get a response and he can only guess it’s because Kyungsoo’s finally fallen asleep.

“It’s enough,” he murmurs again. They’ve known it for years, how much he’s loved him, but sometimes, it doesn’t feel any different than saying the sky is blue. Baekhyun moves his arm to wrap around Kyungsoo’s upper back instead, trying to get himself more comfortable without waking Kyungsoo up, and he takes the chance to kiss the top of his head while he’s at it. He hears Kyungsoo sigh again when he settles down and Baekhyun really does love him.

He pulls up their blankets higher on their bodies, making sure the bottom still covers their feet, and he turns a bit so he can face Kyungsoo too. He listens for his fiancé’s breathing, lets the warmth of their bodies and the holidays settle in, and he waits to fall asleep too.

“I do love you,” he mumbles quietly, breathing in deep, sighing it out. But words sometimes become empty, and he doesn’t want them to lose all meaning at all. He hugs Kyungsoo closer to him, finally closing his eyes, and just—feels. “I love you so much.”

Incessant ringing stirs Baekhyun from sleep, but Kyungsoo’s voice is what wakes him up in the middle of the night. He tries to listen to what his fiancé is saying, but he can’t really comprehend it when he’s only seconds away from falling asleep again. He tries to turn away, to maybe bury his head underneath a pillow, but he doesn’t get very far. He’s only able to turn on his back and face away from Kyungsoo before he remembers they’re sleeping on the couch instead of in their bed.

“I’ll see him in the morning. No. Yeah, thanks for your call. Yeah, I saw your EKG, but it doesn’t look emergent. It’s okay. Yeah, no, it’s good. You know what I mean. Yeah. Bye.”

Baekhyun can feel Kyungsoo shifting to put his cell phone on the back edge of the couch before he’s making himself comfortable again. He sighs, soft, quiet, before he relaxes completely against him again.

“That’s your first call,” Baekhyun mumbles. He almost smiles when Kyungsoo jerks in surprise next to him. “Hopefully, you don’t get anymore tonight.”

“It’s almost five in the morning,” Kyungsoo whispers. “Sorry, I woke you up.”

Baekhyun hums, opens an eye to stare at the closed curtains. “It’s still nighttime. It’s okay. You good?” This time, he does smile when he feels Kyungsoo kiss underneath his jaw.

“Can you fall back asleep?”

“I’ll manage.” And really, it feels like he can. He can still feel sleep pulling at him and he sighs when he feels Kyungsoo kiss his neck before relaxing against him again. “I love you, Kyungsoo.”

Kyungsoo hums this time, shifting so he’s lying more on his back instead of on his side. “I know.” A few more minutes pass, and he’s on his other side with his back facing Baekhyun. He hears Kyungsoo’s muffled words of “I love you, too” before he slowly stills and his breathing evens out.

“I can’t believe they’re still our obnoxiously cute little brothers.”

It should be a crime to feel this annoyed so very early in the morning. Baekhyun really doesn’t want to hear his brother’s voice when he can still sleep more, so he turns and buries his face into the closest thing next to him. His nose hits something bony and it takes him a few long seconds to realize that he’s trying to bury his face into Kyungsoo’s back, next to his shoulder blade.

“ _Your_ brother is obnoxiously cute. _My_ brother is just adorable.”

Seungsoo shouldn’t even be talking so loudly in the morning. When has he ever been a loud talker? Or does everything just sound louder than normal when he’s half-asleep?

“Shh, daddy stop talking. You’re going to wake them up!” he can hear Seoyul whisper-yell. Baekhyun loves his little princess.

“I bet you can put the new puppy on top of them and none of them will wake up.”

Baekhyun tries harder to drown out the noise.

“Now, now. Stop staring at your brothers and let them sleep. They’ve been working hard lately.”

“Especially if Kyungsoo is supposed to be at work when he should be celebrating the holidays.”

“Yes, exactly. Now, come eat and stop bothering them. Honey, put an extra blanket on top of them. It feels colder than it did last night.”

Baekhyun sighs softly when he feels an extra added weight placed on top of them. Slowly, the warmth sinks in even more and he doesn’t even realize he was cold until one of their fathers placed the third blanket on top of them. It’s cozy now, maybe a bit too much, but their families’ soft voices filtering in from the kitchen adds into the nonexistent white noise and helps him fall back to sleep before he knows it.

“—hyun.”

Baekhyun feels warm. He’s wrapped in a little cocoon and even Mongryong sitting on top of him and sniffing at his face can’t get him to move out of the blankets around him.

“Baekhyun, I’m going to work,” the voice tries again. The added weight of his dog is taken off of his side and he tries to turn as best as he can towards the voice. “I know you’re going to sleep throughout the day, but I also know that means you’ll wake up multiple times and not eat, just to try and get more sleep. Make sure you eat or our parents will.” A soft kiss touches his temple and Baekhyun feels aggravated when he hears his older brother’s voice.

“He’s still like a child. How are you still with him?”

“Oh, you know why. Don’t wreck the house while I’m gone.”

“How come you expect that of me and nobody else?!”

“Dad,” Seoyul whines, “You’re being too loud.”

“She’s right, honey. Quiet down. Baekhyun’s still sleeping.”

“Bye. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

The house goes quiet after that. It should be soothing, but Baekhyun knows it’s anything but consoling. It’s enough for him to peek his head out from the blankets and blink around to see where everyone else is in his house. The kids are sitting in front of him watching a Christmas movie with the volume on low. He can see his brother’s wife trying to tidy up what little mess was leftover from last night. He turns his head to try and see if anyone is walking behind the couch he’s on, but he can hear his and Kyungsoo’s mothers talking in the kitchen. Someone’s coming in through the front door and he doesn’t know where the others went.

The sound of the back door opening catches his attention and he looks over to see his father walking through the entrance carrying his forgotten cigarette pack in hand. He freezes the moment his dad lays eyes on him. And then his dad simply shrugs and tosses the open pack on the coffee table in front of the kids.

“Baekbeom explained it to me. I have nothing to say,” his dad suddenly says. Baekhyun yelps when his dad ruffles his head the best he can in this position. “I smoked when I was young too.” Then, he turns to stare at his grandchildren. “If either of you pick up a cigarette when you’re older, you will no longer get presents from any of us.”

“What?!”

“Grandpa!” Siwoo yells. They weren’t even paying attention to the cigarette pack. They were too engrossed in their movie. “Not fair!”

“Smoking. No presents! No smoking, and you’ll still get presents! Do you understand me?”

Baekhyun can only watch as his niece and nephew nod and agree, glaring at the open pack on the table, before focusing back on the movie again. “Harsh,” he comments, wincing when his father turns to glare at him next.

“You’re a doctor, and you should know better.”

“Oh, come on,” Baekhyun grumbles, finally sighing and sitting up. He untangles an arm to run a hand through his hair. “You said it yourself. You smoked when you were younger.”

“And who’s the one who keeps checking up on me and my lungs to make sure I don’t croak?”

Baekhyun scowls at him before looking away. “You haven’t had any problems.” Silence greets him and it’s the only reason he turns around to look back at his dad. He’s standing there, staring at him, and he doesn’t understand why until his dad pats his shoulder and walks away towards the kitchen.

“You’re doing well.”

It’s not rare to hear those words, but it still comes as a shock every time simply because it’s always said at the most random times. It takes a moment for Baekhyun to recover from it, to turn back and see his niece and nephew petting Mongryong and the new puppy absentmindedly, and he sighs as he leans back against the couch. He can hear Seungsoo and Baekbeom wandering out of the hallway towards the living room and kitchen.

It’s weird.

The house is so lively.

He searches for his cell phone on the edge of the couch, checking the time and the messages from family and friends who live farther away, before pulling up Kyungsoo’s name in his messages.

_I don’t think I can fall back asleep after all._

_Merry Christmas, Soo!! Take care of your patient and hurry home~~_

His mind suddenly blanks on what else he wanted to say, but he guesses it doesn’t matter much when Kyungsoo texts him back two minutes later, which is surprising in itself.

_Dammit, Baekbeom._

_Merry Christmas, Baekhyun. I’ll greet you properly when I get back._

And then three minutes later—

 _Make sure Meokmul is taken care of properly and gets lots of rest!_ plus a dog emoji.

Baekhyun can’t help but stare at his phone confused, before looking up to see Seoyul still sitting on the ground with the small black poodle on her lap this time. “When did he name the puppy Meokmul?”

**Author's Note:**

> merry christmas, and happy holidays, everyone!! <3


End file.
